On a sunny afternoon mid March, I drove down a familiar road. A street full of memories with my best friend ((Anniegrace)). A neighborhood I have spent a significant amount of time in for the past 17 years. But instead of visiting Anniegrace, I was going a few doors down to spend the next few weeks with one of my favorite people of all time, Alé. I think it is special to have friends where just the anticipation of seeing them fills you with excitement and happiness. To me, Alé is one of those friends. Brimming with joy I arrived at the house she was staying at and it was at this moment I realized what a gift the universe had presented me with.

Closing the door behind me, shutting out the familiar street and town, I entered a fresh, uncharted environment. This space was full of sunlight and music, mid-century furniture and colorful rugs, and a room full of books and art supplies. I was in love. ​

“She took mental vacations. She disappears once in a while to reclaim herself. You need to understand how her energy works” - IAmBrillyant ((Unknown)).

Two sweet dogs greeted me as Alé showed me around this sanctuary that would become home. Alé and I spent our afternoon journaling as we drank tea and ate cookies from Lofty Coffee before having dinner with our friend Sarah. Rain started to pour from the sky as we sat in the living room talking about the universe as we ate cauliflower pizza, sweet potatoes, and avocados. Life lost any sense of chaos it had possessed. I was living in a little bubble. A bubble that was 7 doors down from my best friends house. A bubble that was a 3 minute walk to my boyfriends house. A bubble next to the beach, by my favorite coffee shop, full of my favorite people in this world.My time spent living in Encinitas was brief, but it was easily one of the most happiest times in my entire existence. Every day felt like a new adventure. Every day was full of music, love, sunshine, whole foods, and laughter. Each evening was spent cuddled into bed feeling a higher sense of fulfillment and purpose than I have felt in months. Days were busy. I was preoccupied with simple pleasures like walking the dogs to the beach, meditating, and enjoying small dinner parties full of all of my favorite people quickly and effortlessly becoming each other’s favorite people. This adventure was full of barefoot strolls and moonlit walks at dawn. Hours were spent outside collecting flowers and picking lavender to make lavender hot chocolate with roasted marshmallows. Time passed by as poetry was read, as we laughed hysterically, and as The Beatles, Beach House, and The Growlers softly played in the background.

“There she was, all dressed in adventure, straddling the edge of a star” - Jonny Ox.

This adventure was full of delicious meals, prepared with love, and shared with love. We all enjoyed mornings making scrambled eggs and avocado toast, afternoons abundant with raw cookie dough and tea, and evenings were spent eating ramen or tofu curry and berries with freshly made whipped cream.

We spent days discussing spirituality, reincarnation, karma, tea, plants, manifestation, deportation, travel, astrology, and religion. These conversations took place between and amongst so many people I cherish in my life and as we talked we created so many amazing memories. We appreciated the full moon by sleeping beneath it outside cuddled beneath layers of blankets and pillows on a trampoline as Alé read to us how the moon would affect each of us based on our rising signs and mercury being in retrograde. By early morning the mist and clouds obscured the moon and we came inside energized by the moon’s energy that we had soaked up.

There were nights where I felt like the song “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros was playing as I fell asleep in Sasha’s arms. I was continuously feeling this indescribable type of happiness that I’ve never quite felt before...a feeling so effortless and comfortable...bliss. Pure stellar joy radiating from within. Just totally consumed by everything good and beautiful around me. The past weeks felt like I was experiencing my future in the present.​

“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously” Sophia Bush.

I have never felt a greater sense of contentedness in my life. Nothing will ever shake the incredible memories I made, and I love everyone who I got to share this experience with. The simplicity, ease, and effortlessness of everything was such a reprieve from the boredom of routine that had been weighing me down all winter long.​

“This is the season she will make beautiful things. Not perfect things but honest things that speak to who she is and who she knows she is meant to be” - Morgan Harper Nichols.

I am coming into spring with a refreshed mind and an inspired mindset. I feel motivated and determined to feel the same sort of contentedness I was just experiencing as soon as possible and I hope that my passions can help lead me to that sort of success.